Prostate cancer on the rise in rural India, cases may double by 2020

New Delhi: The second most common cause of cancer, Prostate cancer, is rising in the rural part of India, say experts.

Prostate cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths among men around the world and if health experts are to be believed, the number of cases will be doubled by 2020.

"Most of the metastatic prostate cancer cases are from rural areas. Therefore, it's a challenge to government and doctors to decrease the risk factors and take prostate cancer risk in the rural areas very seriously," P.N. Dogra, Professor and Head of Urology at AIIMS, said in a statement on Thursday.

The rural masses need to be made aware of the treatment, drugs and technologies to combat the disease.

"There is an urgent need to create awareness about prostate cancer threat amongst the rural population," said Anup Kumar, Head (Department of Urology and Renal Transplant) at Safdarjung Hospital.

Safdarjung Hospital sees more than one lakh patients every month from all over the country.

Of these, 20 per cent are prostate cancer patients, in which 40 per cent are clinically localised, 30 per cent are locally advanced and 30 per cent are metastatic prostate cancer cases, Kumar said. 

"Prostate cancer has become a major health problem globally during the last few decades. This disease is the second most common cause of cancer and the sixth leading cause of cancer death among men worldwide," Dogra said. 

According to the Population Based Cancer Registries in Delhi, the disease is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in the national capital, accounting for about 6.78 per cent of all malignancies.

(With Agency inputs)